Vacation! An “Excellent” Trial

Saturday, August 11, 2012 was the date of the best trial I’ve ever run with my dogs.

Sadie just finished her Open Agility title on the 5th with a very messy run. Wrong course? Check! Refusal? Check! Agility gods in your favor? Double-check! She missed her Open Agility Jumpers title that day due to being a complete goof, and missed Time 2 Beat because she dropped a bar.

But on the 11th, she was a machine.

We started the day with our first ever Excellent run on a very nice standard course. We were the first dog on the line, so I didn’t get to see anyone else run. It was beautiful. She moved like she was an extension of me, taking tight turns, crossing smoothly, and nailing her weave-pole entry at high speed. She actually carried on past pole 2 and into pole 3, but she clearly intended to stick the weaves. I called her out to fix it, and we completed the course to a round of applause. If you’re going to NQ, that is the way to do it.

See the fabulous Excellent A NQ here!

Next up was a nice T2B course for Sadie. Once again she had her head in the game, and we sailed through it for a 6-point finish. No hesitations, no disconnects, just a fast and smooth run.

Maxwell was up next for his re-introduction to trialing with a Novice Standard course. He has been an amazing little trooper at all the trials recently, giving me attention and not pestering all the potential four-legged friends. He didn’t disappoint me in the ring, either. I chose not to lead out, and asked him to hold all his contacts for a few seconds – both as a means of keeping connection. He was still certainly distracted by everything, and definitely a bit stressed, but he came back to me every time I called him. And if the A-frame was between us? Bonus! (He loves contact obstacles) I was busy keeping his attention, so I definitely lost track of the course a few times, but he ran nicely anyway. If it weren’t for the extra time on his little ‘detours’ it would have been a Q!

I feel a bad, though, about our ending. I’m so used to Sadie’s bouncy-happy-wound-up enthusiasm that I tried to celebrate the course with Maxwell a bit too much. I threw my hands up and said “Yay!” or some such, and asked him to jump up on me to be leashed. He flattened himself to the ground in response. Oops...

My little boy is growing up!

Sadie’s final run for the day was a very nice jumpers course. It had a tight section with several turns quickly followed by an open section for speed, but the whole course flowed. Apparently Sadie really liked it, too, because she finished clean in 28.8 seconds! For first place! For her Open Agility Jumpers title! There were two teeny tiny spots that I thought could have been better, but both were handling issues, not dog issues. Too much of a pull-up for a tight turn and a slightly late rear-cross cue.

Maxwell’s second and final run was a jumpers course. Remembering to temper my enthusiasm, and how well he responded to recalls in Standard, I tried to handle him firmly but quietly. He still went off on his own a few times. I’m pretty sure it was a sign of stress, not simply distraction. I could see him lower his carriage a bit and hold his ears back. But he was still willing, and he kept himself in the game. I was absolutely ready to end the run if and when he seemed too uncomfortable, but he was a trooper. We finished the course clean enough, with about 13 seconds of time faults. Not a Q, but a hell of a good run for my little guy!

To review:

• Sadie had a fabulous first run in Excellent
• Sadie flew through another T2B Q
• Sadie earned her OAJ title
• Maxwell was willing to play the agility game for a whole standard course for a near-Q
• Maxwell was able to stay focused through a whole jumpers course for a near-Q

I can’t help grinning every time I think about the trial. And I’m pretty sure my fiancé is sick of hearing how proud I am of both my dogs!

Vacation!

We just got back from a week off-leash, and are trying to adjust back to 'civilized' life. The dogs are still exhausted. They flop around the apartment, stretch every time they move, and don't really want to play.

Until I have time to write a real series of posts, let these fun photos hold you over!

Goin' after the ball

Hm... There seem to be treats up there...

An (Almost) Adoption

I took the pups on one of our usual morning routs today, armed with treats and poop bags. It's a nice loop. There are a few big grassy areas to sniff and 'go' on, some residential sections with lots of pee-mail, and commercial areas where they can pay better attention to me.

One stretch along a grassy spot has a plastic split-rail fence on one side, some flat grass beyond it for maybe 10 feet, then a hedge. Today, Maxwell suddenly dove under the fence and wouldn't budge. I stepped back a bit to give him slack, thinking he was pooping. He wasn't.

Maxwell had found a nearly-new tennis ball, bright green and electric orange, and he was damned if he wasn't going to have it. I let him grab it, and he happily carried it back under the fence to continue our walk. And he hung on to it. And he peed while carrying it it. And he looked around while carrying it. And he panted while carrying it. He was beyond cute.

The rare times he dropped it were for a vertical marking on a wall or to watch another dog. I just had to tell him to "go get your ball" and he'd snatch it right back up.

I think I've secretly wanted one of those dogs who happily brings a toy along on walks.

After a half mile or so he began to drop it more frequently. Then I had to encourage him to go get it again. After a few blocks of that, it was at the point where I had to kick the ball along for him to chase, grab, trot a few yards, and drop the ball. Finally, I decided it wasn't worth my effort, and I let the ball roll off next to the sidewalk.

Maybe some other dog will adopt it.

Posted with Blogsy

Agility At The Olympics

My company has given its employees the ability to watch a live news feed of the Olympics on our computers. I’ve been enjoying watching the water polo, swimming, and other such sports of personal interest while I work.

I’ve also learned about some of the lesser-known sports. Did you know that pairs white-water canoeing is a sport? Neither did I. But it was incredible to watch. Fast-paced motion down the rapids, following a numbered course, threading themselves between posts, struggling to complete obstacles (“gates”) in both up- and down-stream directions… Wait a minute, this sounds like agility!

Source

 Source

As I watched the teams power through the course, I felt more and more strongly that I was watching some long-lost step-sister of agility. Imagine how in-tune the two paddlers must be? How instinctively they need to be able to read each others’ cues, mostly non-verbal?

The people in the canoe must be attuned to the movements of each other. The person in back has to read the slightest cues from their partner, like a head-turn, much like a dog read their handler (and visa versa!). While the two humans don’t actually make all the same motions, they need to work together towards a common goal. An agility dog and handler also need that strong working relationship and drive through the course. What happens if something goes wrong? Well, in both cases the team must adjust on the fly without losing connection, momentum, or drive.

Who knew the Olympics had agility?!